So, bad news, Birdland. Hopefully not “awful, catastrophic” news, but bad news nonetheless.
Zach Britton is headed back to the disabled list.
Per Buck Showalater in his post-game comments last night, Britton “felt some discomfort” in the injured left forearm, which kept him out for a few weeks already, on Thursday night/Friday morning.
That’s why Brad Brach, and not Britton, came into the game on Friday night with the O’s leading 4-1 and a save on the line. In the booth, Jim Hunter and Mike Bordick speculated that Buck was simply giving Britton the night off after he had pitched two of the previous three games immediately upon coming off the DL.
However, the MASN cameras were unable to even find Britton sitting in the bullpen, an ominous development.
Now, per Dan Connolly of Baltimore Baseball, Britton is indeed headed back on the 10-day DL.
He will land on the disabled list and be out a few weeks to allow the inflammation to fully subside and the strained muscle to fully heal, according to an industry source. But the sense is that there is no structural damage to the forearm or elbow ligaments, simply a continuation of the muscle strain, the source said.
Connolly also reports that Britton may seek a second opinion.
The sense is that Britton did not allow enough time for the strain to heal properly in his haste to return to the team, but after resting it over the next couple weeks, it shouldn’t be a lingering issue.
Britton could seek a second examination outside of the organization — potentially visiting Los Angeles to see renowned sports medicine specialist/orthopedic surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache, whom Britton’s agent, Scott Boras, often recommends for his clients. ElAttrache has worked with Oriole players before, including performing knee surgeries on Manny Machado in 2013 and 2014.
So O’s fans can at least rest easy that, at the moment, nobody is uttering the words “Dr. James Andrews” nor “Tommy John Surgery,” or even “Platelet-Rich Plasma Injection.” Still, we’ve seen this movie too many times before to not have our orange panties in a bunch regardless.
Hopefully we see Zach closing games in Birdland again by Memorial Day. But until we see #53 on the mound in the dominant form to which we’re accustomed (and for at least a handful of consecutive appearances), we won’t be resting easy.
